Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions stored thereon, that when executed by a processor, performs operations comprising: obtaining simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, the simulation data and skeletal mesh data comprising the character in the same rest pose; importing the skeletal mesh data into a real-time rendering engine; and deriving, using at least the simulation data and the skeletal mesh data imported into the real-time rendering engine, a transformed simulation vertex cache that is usable by the real-time rendering engine during runtime to be skinned in place of the rest pose, wherein deriving the transformed simulation vertex cache comprises: deriving a processed vertex cache comprising frames of vertex and index buffers, wherein deriving the processed vertex cache comprises converting at least some of the simulation data to the frames of vertex and index buffers; creating a mapping between vertices in the processed vertex cache and vertices in vertex buffers created in the real-time rendering engine by importing the skeletal mesh data; and using at least the mapping to reorder the processed vertex cache and derive inverse-transformed tangent spaces computed on skinned vertex caches.
This invention relates to real-time rendering of animated characters in computer graphics, specifically addressing the challenge of efficiently processing and rendering character animations while maintaining visual fidelity. The system involves a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations to optimize animation data for real-time rendering engines. The process begins by obtaining simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, both in the same rest pose. The skeletal mesh data is imported into a real-time rendering engine, while the simulation data is processed to generate a transformed simulation vertex cache. This cache is derived by converting simulation data into frames of vertex and index buffers, creating a mapping between vertices in the processed cache and those in the rendering engine's vertex buffers, and reordering the cache to derive inverse-transformed tangent spaces. The resulting vertex cache is used during runtime to skin the character, replacing the rest pose with the animated version. This approach improves rendering efficiency by precomputing and optimizing animation data for real-time use, reducing runtime computational overhead while maintaining accurate deformation and visual quality.
2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein creating the mapping comprises: comparing spatial poses and texture coordinates from a rest pose of the processed vertex cache and a rest pose of the skeletal mesh data imported into the real-time rendering engine.
This invention relates to real-time rendering of skeletal mesh data in computer graphics, particularly for comparing spatial poses and texture coordinates between a rest pose of a processed vertex cache and a rest pose of skeletal mesh data imported into a real-time rendering engine. The technology addresses the challenge of efficiently mapping and synchronizing vertex data in real-time rendering pipelines, ensuring accurate deformation and animation of 3D models. The method involves creating a mapping by comparing spatial poses and texture coordinates from the rest pose of the processed vertex cache with the rest pose of the imported skeletal mesh data. This comparison allows for precise alignment and transformation of vertex data, enabling smooth and accurate rendering of animated 3D models. The process ensures that the vertex cache, which stores precomputed vertex data, remains consistent with the skeletal mesh data, preventing visual artifacts and maintaining performance in real-time applications such as video games and virtual reality. The invention optimizes the rendering pipeline by reducing the need for redundant calculations, improving efficiency and rendering quality.
3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein deriving the processed vertex cache, comprises: transforming the vertex and index buffers to a format suitable for the real-time rendering engine.
This invention relates to computer graphics processing, specifically optimizing vertex and index buffers for real-time rendering. The problem addressed is the inefficiency in processing vertex and index data, which can lead to performance bottlenecks in real-time rendering systems. The solution involves transforming vertex and index buffers into a format optimized for a real-time rendering engine. This transformation ensures compatibility and efficiency, allowing the rendering engine to process the data more effectively. The transformed data is then used to generate a processed vertex cache, which further enhances rendering performance by reducing redundant computations and memory access. The vertex and index buffers contain geometric data and references used to construct 3D models, and the transformation step ensures these are structured in a way that minimizes overhead during rendering. This approach is particularly useful in applications requiring high frame rates, such as video games, virtual reality, and real-time simulations. By optimizing the data format, the system achieves faster rendering times and improved resource utilization.
4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3 , wherein transforming the vertex and index buffers to the format suitable for the real-time rendering engine, comprises one or more of the following operations: a scaling operation, a coordinate space conversion, a texture space conversion, a timing transformation, and a compression of tangent spaces.
This invention relates to real-time rendering systems, specifically addressing the challenge of efficiently converting vertex and index buffers into formats compatible with real-time rendering engines. The process involves transforming these buffers to ensure optimal performance and compatibility during rendering. The transformation operations include scaling to adjust geometric dimensions, converting coordinates between different spatial representations, adjusting texture mappings to align with rendering requirements, modifying timing data for synchronization, and compressing tangent spaces to reduce memory usage while preserving visual fidelity. These operations are applied to vertex and index buffers, which store geometric and connectivity data for 3D models, ensuring they meet the specific format and performance demands of real-time rendering engines. The invention aims to streamline the rendering pipeline by pre-processing these buffers, reducing runtime computational overhead and improving rendering efficiency. The transformations are designed to be flexible, allowing for various adjustments based on the rendering engine's requirements, and may include compression techniques to optimize memory usage without sacrificing visual quality. This approach enhances the performance of real-time rendering applications, such as video games and virtual reality simulations, by ensuring that the input data is pre-processed in a way that minimizes processing delays during rendering.
5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the simulation data comprises a simulation file of the character in the rest pose and a simulation file of simulation and facial performance results of the character, wherein the skeletal mesh data comprises an animation file of a skeletal mesh model of the character in the rest pose and an animation file of animations of the skeletal mesh model.
This invention relates to digital character animation and simulation, addressing the challenge of efficiently managing and processing character data for animation pipelines. The system involves storing and utilizing simulation and skeletal mesh data for digital characters, particularly in rest poses and during animated sequences. The simulation data includes a simulation file representing the character in a rest pose and another file containing simulation and facial performance results. The skeletal mesh data comprises an animation file of the character's skeletal mesh model in a rest pose and another file with animations of the skeletal mesh model. These files enable accurate rendering and manipulation of character movements, facial expressions, and deformations. The invention improves workflow efficiency by organizing simulation and skeletal mesh data separately, allowing for streamlined processing in animation production. This approach ensures consistency between the character's physical simulation and skeletal mesh animations, enhancing realism and reducing errors in digital character creation. The system is particularly useful in industries like gaming, film, and virtual reality, where high-quality character animation is essential.
6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the real-time rendering engine is a game engine.
A system and method for real-time rendering of interactive 3D environments using a game engine. The technology addresses the challenge of efficiently generating and displaying dynamic 3D content in applications requiring real-time interactivity, such as simulations, training tools, or virtual reality experiences. The system includes a real-time rendering engine, which is specifically implemented as a game engine, to process and render 3D models, textures, and lighting effects with low latency. The game engine handles physics simulations, collision detection, and user input to enable interactive manipulation of the 3D environment. The system also includes a data processing module that prepares 3D assets for rendering, optimizing them for performance while maintaining visual fidelity. The rendering engine dynamically adjusts rendering parameters based on system performance to ensure smooth frame rates. The system may also include a user interface for configuring rendering settings and a network interface for distributing rendered content across multiple devices. The use of a game engine provides scalability, modularity, and access to advanced rendering techniques, making the system suitable for high-performance applications.
7. A method comprising: obtaining simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, the simulation data and skeletal mesh data comprising the character in the same rest pose; importing the skeletal mesh data into a real-time rendering engine; and deriving, using at least the simulation data and the skeletal mesh data imported into the real-time rendering engine, a transformed simulation vertex cache that is usable by the real-time rendering engine during runtime to be skinned in place of the rest pose, wherein deriving the transformed simulation vertex cache comprises: deriving a processed vertex cache comprising frames of vertex and index buffers, wherein deriving the processed vertex cache comprises converting at least some of the simulation data to frames of the vertex and index buffers; creating a mapping between vertices in the processed vertex cache and vertices in vertex buffers created in the real-time rendering engine by importing the skeletal mesh data; and using at least the mapping to reorder the processed vertex cache and derive inverse-transformed tangent spaces computed on skinned vertex caches.
This invention relates to real-time rendering of animated characters in computer graphics, specifically addressing the challenge of efficiently applying simulation data to skeletal meshes during runtime. The method involves obtaining simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, both in the same rest pose. The skeletal mesh data is imported into a real-time rendering engine, while the simulation data is processed into a vertex cache format compatible with the engine. The processed vertex cache consists of frames of vertex and index buffers, derived by converting simulation data into this format. A mapping is created between vertices in the processed vertex cache and those in the vertex buffers generated by the imported skeletal mesh. This mapping is used to reorder the processed vertex cache and compute inverse-transformed tangent spaces on the skinned vertex caches. The resulting transformed simulation vertex cache can be used by the rendering engine during runtime to skin the character, replacing the rest pose with the simulated animation. This approach optimizes performance by precomputing and structuring simulation data for efficient real-time rendering, reducing runtime computational overhead.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein creating the mapping comprises: comparing spatial poses and texture coordinates from a rest pose of the processed vertex cache and a rest pose of the skeletal mesh data imported into the real-time rendering engine.
This invention relates to real-time rendering of animated 3D models, specifically improving the accuracy of vertex skinning by dynamically mapping vertex cache data to skeletal mesh data. The problem addressed is the misalignment between pre-processed vertex cache data and skeletal mesh data during animation, which can cause visual artifacts like stretching or tearing in rendered models. The solution involves creating a mapping between the two datasets by comparing their spatial poses and texture coordinates in a rest pose state. The rest pose represents the default, unanimated state of the model, ensuring that the mapping is accurate before any transformations are applied. By aligning the vertex cache and skeletal mesh data in this neutral state, the method ensures consistent deformation during animation, reducing rendering errors. The process involves analyzing both datasets to identify corresponding vertices and their attributes, then establishing a relationship that maintains coherence throughout the animation pipeline. This approach enhances the fidelity of real-time rendered animations by minimizing discrepancies between the pre-processed data and the skeletal structure used for animation. The method is particularly useful in applications requiring high-quality 3D rendering, such as video games and virtual reality experiences.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein deriving the processed vertex cache, comprises: transforming the vertex and index buffers to a format suitable for the real-time rendering engine.
The invention relates to real-time rendering systems, specifically addressing the challenge of efficiently processing vertex and index buffers for graphics rendering. The method involves transforming vertex and index buffers into a format optimized for a real-time rendering engine. This transformation ensures compatibility and performance improvements, allowing the rendering engine to efficiently access and process the data during real-time rendering operations. The vertex and index buffers contain geometric data and connectivity information, respectively, which are essential for rendering 3D models. By converting these buffers into a suitable format, the method enhances rendering speed and reduces computational overhead, making it particularly useful in applications requiring high-performance graphics, such as video games, virtual reality, and real-time simulations. The transformation process may include steps like reordering data, compressing information, or adjusting data structures to align with the rendering engine's requirements. This ensures seamless integration and optimal performance during real-time rendering, addressing inefficiencies in traditional rendering pipelines where buffer formats may not be directly compatible with the rendering engine.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein transforming the vertex and index buffers to the format suitable for the real-time rendering engine, comprises one or more of the following operations: a scaling operation, a coordinate space conversion, a texture space conversion, a timing transformation, and a compression of tangent spaces.
This invention relates to real-time rendering systems, specifically methods for optimizing vertex and index buffers to improve rendering performance. The problem addressed is the inefficiency in processing 3D model data for real-time rendering, where raw vertex and index buffers often require extensive transformations to match the format expected by rendering engines. These transformations can include scaling operations to adjust model dimensions, coordinate space conversions to align with rendering pipelines, texture space conversions to ensure proper texture mapping, timing transformations for animation or dynamic effects, and compression of tangent spaces to reduce memory usage while preserving surface detail. The invention provides a method to automate these transformations, ensuring compatibility with real-time rendering engines while minimizing computational overhead. By applying these operations, the method enhances rendering efficiency, reduces latency, and improves the overall performance of real-time graphics applications. The solution is particularly useful in gaming, virtual reality, and other applications requiring high-performance 3D rendering.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the simulation data comprises a simulation file of the character in the rest pose and a simulation file of simulation and facial performance results of the character, wherein the skeletal mesh data comprises an animation file of a skeletal mesh model of the character in the rest pose and an animation file of animations of the skeletal mesh model.
This invention relates to digital character animation and simulation, addressing the challenge of efficiently managing and integrating character data for animation and simulation purposes. The method involves generating and storing simulation data and skeletal mesh data for a digital character. The simulation data includes a simulation file representing the character in a rest pose and another simulation file containing simulation and facial performance results of the character. The skeletal mesh data includes an animation file of a skeletal mesh model of the character in a rest pose and another animation file containing animations of the skeletal mesh model. The method ensures that the simulation and skeletal mesh data are synchronized and can be used together to accurately represent the character's movements and expressions. This approach streamlines the workflow for animators and developers by providing organized and accessible data files for different aspects of character animation, improving efficiency and consistency in digital character creation and rendering. The invention is particularly useful in industries such as gaming, film, and virtual reality, where realistic and dynamic character animations are essential.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the real-time rendering engine is a game engine.
A system and method for real-time rendering of virtual environments using a game engine. The technology addresses the challenge of efficiently generating and displaying dynamic 3D graphics in applications requiring real-time performance, such as simulations, training, or interactive experiences. The method involves processing input data to generate a virtual environment, where the game engine dynamically adjusts rendering parameters based on user interactions or environmental changes. The game engine optimizes rendering by prioritizing visible elements, managing lighting and shading, and applying physics simulations to enhance realism. The system may also integrate with external data sources, such as sensors or databases, to update the virtual environment in real time. By leveraging the computational efficiency of game engines, the method ensures smooth, high-quality rendering even in complex or large-scale virtual environments. The approach is particularly useful in applications where responsiveness and visual fidelity are critical, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, or real-time training simulations. The game engine may include features like collision detection, particle effects, and AI-driven behaviors to further enhance the interactive experience. The method ensures that rendering remains synchronized with input data, providing a seamless and immersive user experience.
13. A system, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions stored thereon, that when executed by the processor, performs operations comprising: obtaining simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, the simulation data and skeletal mesh data comprising the character in the same rest pose; importing the skeletal mesh data into a real-time rendering engine; and deriving, using at least the simulation data and the skeletal mesh data imported into the real-time rendering engine, a transformed simulation vertex cache that is usable by the real-time rendering engine during runtime to be skinned in place of the rest pose, wherein deriving the transformed simulation vertex cache comprises: deriving a processed vertex cache comprising frames of vertex and index buffers, wherein deriving the processed vertex cache comprises converting at least some of the simulation data to frames of the vertex and index buffers; creating a mapping between vertices in the processed vertex cache and vertices in vertex buffers created in the real-time rendering engine by importing the skeletal mesh data; and using at least the mapping to reorder the processed vertex cache and derive inverse-transformed tangent spaces computed on skinned vertex caches.
This system addresses the challenge of efficiently integrating simulation data with skeletal mesh data for real-time rendering in applications like video games or virtual reality. The system processes character data to enable dynamic skinning during runtime without relying on the original rest pose. A processor executes instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium to perform several key operations. First, it obtains simulation data and skeletal mesh data of a character, both in the same rest pose. The skeletal mesh data is then imported into a real-time rendering engine. Using the imported data, the system derives a transformed simulation vertex cache that can be skinned during runtime. This involves converting simulation data into frames of vertex and index buffers to create a processed vertex cache. A mapping is established between vertices in the processed vertex cache and those in the rendering engine's vertex buffers. This mapping is used to reorder the processed vertex cache and compute inverse-transformed tangent spaces on skinned vertex caches. The result is a vertex cache optimized for real-time rendering, improving performance and visual fidelity.
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November 3, 2020
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